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For Admins: Integrating Echo360 with Blackboard

Creating the Echo360 LTI Tool Link (Create Placement) in Blackboard

Brockman Winfrey
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After creating the LTI Provider tool, you must create a link that points to the Echo360 LTI Provider tool. In Blackboard this is referred to as Create Placement or Manage Placement. This "places" a link to the Echo360 External Tool into the Content menu for course content.

The two most important aspects of this creation are naming the link (so it's recognizable as the link to Echo360) and configuring the Placement to allow grading for the Content tool type.

TIP: If you are still viewing the LTI Providers list from when you created the tool, you can skip to step 4 below.

To create the Echo360 LTI tool link (placement)

  1. While logged in as a system administrator, open the Administrator Panel. This is done either from the top menu or the side menu, depending on the version of Blackboard you are working with.
  2. Select LTI Tool Providers from the Integrations section of the admin panel. 
    System Admin panel of Blackboard with LTI Tool Providers option identified for selection as described
  3. Find the Echo360 LTI tool you created, and hover over it to expose the menu arrow (also called a "chevron").
  4. From the menu select Manage Placements.
    LTI provider tool list with menu options showing and Manage Placements identified
     
  5. Click Create Placement, located at the top of the Placements list.
    Manage Placements list with Create Placement button identified for steps as described
     
  6. In the Placement form that appears, complete the required fields as shown in the below figure, and described below the figure.
    create placement form with fields as described
     
    • Enter a Label field, enter a label that identifies this as a link to Echo360. This is the text that appears in the Build Content menu for a Course.
    • Enter a Description that defines the purpose of this placement (deliver Echo360 Classroom content). It is Optional.
    • Enter a the Handle or text that uniquely identifies this tool placement.
    • Enable the Content Type radio button
    • Enable the Placement allows evaluation checkbox.
      These two selections are required for Blackboard to receive exported Gradebook analytics from Echo360 and write them to the Grade center for a course.
    • Enable the Launch in New Window checkbox. This allows Echo to open in a new tab and eliminates issues related to viewing Echo360 content within a browser frame. If you do NOT enable this checkbox, you should point users to the browser configuration articles located in the General Requirements topic group of this online help.
       
  7. Scroll down to the Tool Provider Information section of the form.
    Tool provider information section of the placement form with fields for completion as described
  8. In the Tool Provider URL field, enter the Host URL from the Blackboard LMS settings in Echo360.

    TIP: The Host URL is also visible on the LTI Provider Tools list, and can be copied from there for pasting into the Tool Provider URL field. See also the best practice note below.

  9. When finished, click Submit.

The Echo360 LTI tool link is now available under the Build Content menu within a Course. The tool can be added to courses by administrators or by instructors, whichever is appropriate to your institution.

BEST PRACTICE: Selecting and copying the values between Echo360 and the LMS can be difficult, and can be prone to not selecting the full value. To select the full value of an LMS field, do the following:

  1. Use your mouse to select a portion of the field values.
  2. Press Ctrl+A / Command+A to "select all" of the field.
  3. Press Ctrl+C / Command + C to copy the selected value.
  4. Paste the value into the corresponding field in the LMS LTI External Tool configuration.

 

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